Pushkin (Hannibal) Hope Osipovna

(1775 - 29.03.1836)
Episode from the life N.O. Pushkina, the poet's mother. Mikhailovskoe 1823-24gg.Madam Hannibal *
She carefully snuffed the candles, again carefully looked into the string beads, meticulously searching for mistakes - God forbid, it's a petition - the Emperor - and began carefully sprinkle sand sheet. Sighing, she shook her head ... Oh, Alexander, Alexander - as incomprehensible as it has always been difficult for her mother, for one, which seemed to be able to read it as an open book ... She always had a problem with it: rigid and immediately - fidget, can run jumped up or stand still without moving somewhere in the corner for a few hours - hardly dozoveshsya ... And the mood is always uneven: it sparkles with wit, . gay, . infectious laughing, . and then pensive and nervous, . childhood and still biting his nails - bad habit! Thank God, . weaned, . Though cruel way: tied his hands behind his back with his handkerchief for a few hours,
. Do not cry, just frowned and walked sullen, yet allow it to unleash a Nanny Arina numb hands ... He blew on his fingers, gently rubbing them and frowned, not to see her mother povlazhnevshih eyes from tears ... But she noticed all. Passed, as if by accident touched his shoulder with his fingers or hair ... He toss her head, gasped in surprise, died down ... Stared at her silhouette to the front door, the rustle of her silks ... How she loved silk! Once upon a time in her youth her clothes were found in the most charming Petersburg balls ... Once it was! Another almost in Elizabeth! And no one knew, . that these dresses were sewed on the last of his money and often the girl Hannibal comes after vortex balls together for a long time with my mother to sit on bread and water, . giving the last coppers of lace and an ivory fan,
. If it were not for my father's brother, General Hannibal! Many beautiful days she spent in his luxurious estate - Manor Suida how many books she read from his wonderful library!.. At the stables, somewhere in the distance the horse began to neigh, she shrugged her shoulders, shivering in the suddenly surging memories: shaking the coach, the night sky, the month looks in the window. Half asleep girl, wore her dress in a hurry, with matted hair sits on her mother's lap, shivering and hugging her, trying to get warm ... Again, it raised the middle of the night, dressed to go somewhere were taken, again they are from someone hiding. Surely from the man who has black hands and a strange white teeth ulybkaN frightening little girl, she did not understand the flight of the middle of the night, into the unknown, to nowhere!.. How many of them will be those escapes for all her life, how many addresses and homes will replace them in attempts to escape from the past! But whether etoN
Hardly. She once again meticulously inspected the sheet of paper with the family coat of arms of Pushkin's kind ... Thought to myself that if properly delve into genealogy papers, you'll find that it has relative own husband *. Strange thing - Destiny. She, . Beauty, . spoiled mother in spite of all prison, . brilliant, . except for extraordinary appearance (not for nothing that her name was in the light of la belle creole - wonderful Creole *! - impacted African blood father and grandfather.) also wit and strength of character, . She presented a gift in the person of Sergey Davidov, . young officer, . and poured by French puns,
. Their marriage was entered into by mutual impulsive feelings, on the calculation of the question was. September 28, 1796 in the church on the manor Suida married "Life Guards regiment, Lieutenant Izmailovskogo boy Sergei, . son Pushkin, . Marine artillery second rank of captain Osip Abramovich Hannibal with his daughter, a girl Nadezhda Osipova, . Both first marriage ",
. As married, immediately began to gather in Moscow. Sergei was afraid that if he does not seek the resignation, can not escape his long military campaigns, and separation from his wife, all the vagaries and irregularities of the nature of which he bore without a murmur. Maria, . Mother Hopes Osipovna, . kingdom of heaven, . not wanting to part with her daughter for a second - in her memory should be long lived the horror of parting with her for a year, . when her father stole a small, . - Sold his St. Petersburg house, . bought the means to summon the court Osip Abramovich,
. I went after her daughter and son in law. She knew how to run the economy: the perennial scarcity of funds has taught her a lot, . house young Pushkin throughout Moscow famous hospitality and cheerfulness, . never had a headache from a dazzling Nadine on extra candle for guests, . tablecloths, . Cutlery,
. Everything was in the hands restrained, always smiling mother, always holding in the hands knitting. Visitors to manifest Mary Alexeevna fully respect, admiring it from the soul.
. How happy was the mother, . when went grandchildren! If it were not for the misfortune with five older children, . death has silvered her hair and added weight in my dreams at night, . gay family Pushkin would have been even more! Hope Levinton not constrained breath and suddenly shuddered from a quiet knock on the door:,
. - Madame! - Heard a frightened voice behind a door the maid Masha.
. - What tebeN - with restrained anger she responds.
. - Barin Sergei eyeglass lost
. In a strong stimulation, sir, sir LEXANDER Sergeyitch really looking for me looking at all the furniture ... Neto, sir! Master screams, Mol, wretched man that I am, my fate will not regret! You have to know the lady, as always! - Masha sticks her head gently on the door, looking anxiously at the lady.
. Hope Levinton puts aside his pen, close plowed the hood, picks up a candle and, going behind Masha on the corridor, already hear coming out of the cabinet grumbling Sergei Davidov and knock removable furniture
. Hope Levinton opens the door and with resolute steps into the room:
. - What is happening here, my drugN What are you so bespokoenN Alexander, is not it time lozhitsyaN Too late ... What are you in the middle of the night into his head to look lornetN
. Son, carefully squatting on his haunches and looked at the sofa there with a worried look, to keep from laughing:
. - Why, my father occurred to reread my poem and a letter from Leon, and eyeglass something and lost ...
. - You know, Nadine, I think should be strongly deny your Marie Login to my account
. After her cleanings impossible, . absolutely impossible to find anything! No, . No fate is unfair to us! Sitting here, . in this silence and wilderness, . not have long heard from her daughter and son, . reconciled with all the inconvenience, . and instead not have a respectful attitude of workers, . is - intolerable! - Tearful voice moaned Sergei and reached into his pocket for a handkerchief,
. His hand bumped into something hard and he stared in bewilderment at the chain of eyeglass, gleamed in the fingers. Hope Levinton understands exchanged a glance with his son smiling, shook her head:
- Well, not ashamed, my friend, you so shumetN whole house is alarmed, Masha in tears, Arina not asleep, I pulled from the case, Alexander torturing ... It was to rest with God, Arina at 10 times all the cushions shaken up ... And you, Alexander, - speaking with his son in impeccable French, she is always switched to "you" and from this little exuded a sort of chill and confusion.

. She herself could not explain it myself, but somehow internally contracted under the influence of this feeling
. She resented this timidity in front of her son, she felt that he could read the heart with my own eyes - intelligent and alive - a grandfather! - What is happening or will happen in her mind at any time. It was an open book before him and it was against her nature, accustomed to the impermeability of the secular and authoritativeness.

. Before her eyes suddenly appears the picture of the distant past: a little angry, Alexander faces a blazing fireplace, which will char a notebook with his child poem, which he snatched the ridiculed her tutor, Monsieur Schedel ..
. The passion with which Alexander rushed to protect his creation from prying ears unpleasantly surprised when Hope Osipovna. Son, of course, was punished for self-will, but it is undecided - and whether they are delivered and not whether Monsieur Schadel, by the way, soon dismissed from his post as tutor, had to apologize to his little vospitannikomN ..

. She barely noticeable shrugged his shoulders, as if ozyabnuv from the cold, and broke off a protracted pause
. - And again, you'll burn the whole candle nochN not think about yourself, too little rest, I'm worried about you ..
. Ladies of Trigorskoye * invited for cake, Praskovia Levinton only you and wants to see, tell them to Nikita for dinner clean coat ...- uttered these words rapidly, routinely holding out her hand to kiss one coming to her son.
. He bent over her fingers as she stared at the gray hair disturbed - a speck of dust that flashed through his hair ...: How uzheN! Well, yes, which only cost one of his quarrel with his father that occurred in her presence here at the Mikhailovsky!
. As Alexander was furious after learning that his father intended to send a report to the authorities about his behavior! She barely managed to reconcile them by resorting to the assistance of Olga, Leon Baron Delvig
. Son held his offense, his father also did not differ mild, but still, as always resorted to the verbal rhetoric and exaggeration ... "My situation is terrible!" - Moaned, he remained alone with his wife. - My own children do not appreciate and despise me! I just put my trust in God and ask him to give me in my decision - not to take revenge for himself and endure all "- while he sighed sorrowfully.

. She sighed, too, sensing my heart that her son speaks more to the poet's wounded pride, respect and the knower of the glory of his people away, and misunderstanding and indifference on the part of the closest human
. She knew, . that Sergei is not right, . but at times angry and his son - not very easy for parents to accept the fact, . that the son of the universally recognized favorite, . from childhood caressed Derzhavins, . Zhukovsky, . imperial court - is suddenly suddenly disgraced, . almost an exile! God knows what was said in the capital about his affair with the wife of the Governor of Odessa Count Vorontsov! She caught the edge of the ear in the secular living room and talk (however momentarily silenced), . that if it were not for the intervention of the Empress Elizabeth Alekseyevna, . wife vsederzhavnogo Emperor, . no application Zhukovsky and Karamzin, . then it would be willfully obstinate, . hot son at Solovki, . in the monastic cell ..,
. Tremors takes, how to present! She gently stroked his free hand, thick curly hair and makes the sign of the bowed head of the cross ... Then he pulls back his hand: would not see, not ridiculed! Oster language! - And suddenly grinned: "But someone has to! In my mother home.

. From her shy pale and lost infatuated Sergei, grunted in confusion battered general - lieutenant Uncle Hannibal
. However charming Nadine always knew how to smooth out the sharpness of words appropriate to joke, graceful curtsey time eyelashes, flirtatious glance ... Not to mention the servants, that the sharp tone of the lady and her cold gaze feared more than the heavy hand. But rarely felt the burden of it, as Hope Osipovna remarkably self-possessed.

Was afraid she was only one thing - cool, moonlit nights and the neighing of horses in the stables ... Pale, me in the face, in her soul crept sticky, unpleasant feeling of fear. She was then not frosty, . canny woman, . cherishes small-talk, . fluent in 4 languages, . read in Russian poems of his famous son, . simply - frightened, . little girl, . which was seized among the warmest sleeping and is now being taken somewhere else: in the dark, . distance, . the darkness ...,

. I wonder if he knows about her strahahN - flashed through her mind in those seconds when he bends over her hand ... Probably, yes
. Her son's strange deep eyes, in charge of everything inside. How many in that look of deep sorrow, how much pain and grief! How much fun and mischief! Warmth and wisdom ...

. Something she understood it, but something may befall it ever, so it seems ...
. - Vain to worry, my dear! - She heard as if from afar his distinctive, slightly high-pitched voice
. - The poet time freely, to him - neither night nor day. Time at ease, yes - soul! Pity not - the body!
- Wait a little, Alexander! Let's hope for the best! You know - Gannibally-Pushkin is too old tree to break from the first impulse. They never give up, - she utters the last words of a sudden, in obedience to some involuntary movement of the heart ... And she reproaches herself for lack of restraint! Little more and said to the letter! It is impossible that he knew, too proud, will not forgive!
- I know, my dear, - she heard in response. - Not for nothing Praskovya Alexandrovna calls you sometimes with admiration: "indomitable Madame Hannibal!"
. - Good night, my friend! And really, do not burn many candles - this is a sick old eyes ...
. - Do you believe that I live to starostiN because I have foretold ...
. - Yes, you never know what they say talkative old! Nonsense! Another gladden my grandchildren and great-grandchildren! Do not talk nonsense! Arina here grumbles: the loss of a candle so that - the truth!
. She smiles and her son, taking the candlestick with a candle, went into the corridor:
. - Good night, Alexander! Do not think about sad things!
. - Good night ..
. Madame Hannibal ...
At the door of her room, she again turned to look at his son. In the twilight she saw his face, but he knows that he is smiling. Going to him and shut the door, she goes to the table and picks up a sheet of paper. The ink dried, graceful strokes of the pen shine on the back side.
. It is immersed in these words, the brain meticulously looking inconsistencies, errors, but they do not, the text reads as follows:
. Sire
. With a heart full of motherly concern dare to cling to the feet of your Imperial Majesty, . pleading for mercy for her son! Only my mother's tenderness, . Alarmed by the dire state of its, . allows me to hope, . that your majesty will forgive me this plea concerning a,
. Your Majesty! It is about his life! For about 10 years my son suffered an aneurysm in his leg, . disease is too neglected in the basis, . become a threat to his life, . especially when, . that he lived in a place, . where it can not be rendered any assistance! Your Majesty! Do not miss the mother of the unfortunate object of her love,
. Graciously allow my son to go to Riga or some other city that Your Majesty deigns to indicate that they undergo the operation, which alone gives me hope to save his son. I can assure Your Majesty, that his behavior there will be a perfect. Grace Your Majesty is the best guarantee of that.

. I remain with profound respect your Imperial Majesty, the lowest, most loyal and grateful subjects Nadezhda Pushkin, nee Hannibal.

. May 6, 1825 .*

. She carefully folded the letter, sealed with wax melted in the fire seal - the family, old, passed from ancestors and closes in a drawer
. Tomorrow postal day not to forget to pay Nikita, but warn not to talk to anyone ...! She sighs, puts aside the key. Do not forget, do not forget ... Once dozhdeshsya answer! In the window looks the moon, casting their reflections on the old parquet boards. The house is gradually sinking into silence, sleep. It extinguishes the candle to the window. In another wing of the house is a light in a single window.
"Another wrote! - Sadly smiling thinks she shrugs. Cross in the air with his fingers lighted square windows and freezes from the sense of unconscious, but understandable to all mothers of anxiety ... Something is waiting for her son in buduschemN.. Does it bring glory to verses or one of bitterness and frustration ... It is only God knows ..
Instead of an epilogue.
She will live many more years, will celebrate the birth of grandchildren, even to this day maintain mental alertness, vivid language, attachment to the pedestrian walks along and colors. Hundreds of her letters to her daughter and son - alive and witty, kind, full of maternal care and concern about children - prolezhat in the archives of the family Olga Pushkina-Pavlishchev and will be translated from French into Russian only in the 60 years of the century. (They have not yet been published, are buried in the archives IRLI).

. She would see the eldest son of renowned poet, married to the most beautiful woman in Russia, and the youngest, Levushka will write a touching letter to his nephew, imploring him to be careful and not get involved in gambling debts.

. It will be on the mother is proud of the first successes of her daughter at social events and to describe her daughter, who lives in a distant Warsaw, about what the fashion in the capital today
. It would bother to worry about the health of Sergei Davidov, on the device housing in Petersburg, then Moscow, then at the summer cottage ... And wait for letters from the older and younger son. Everybody back and dream about the meetings, how well it would be if "all three of us united for a moment". Rejoice meetings with young grandchildren. Their first words, holding out her hands, kissing baby.

Dying from severe liver disease, it is at a meeting with his eldest son - the last meeting - will ask forgiveness for what little he valued, few understand ... Ask for forgiveness for that, maybe something nedodala, nedoglyadela, there is no provision in early childhood and later in his youth ... But she did not tell him that wrote back in 1825 a letter to the emperor and she would never know the prescription, which has received a Chief of Staff Chief of Staff Colonel IM. Bibikov: "learn and report back to St. Petersburg immediately on his return, which is Pushkin, born Hannibal, and not the mother whether the Pushkin, who wrote poems ...
. It is a pity that it was too late, almost at the end of the century, were able to learn about it and we.
. NOTES
. * In preparation of this novel were used historical documents, . excerpts from letters and recollections, . placed in the 1st volume of the book, Chronicles a Life of Pushkin, . told by himself and his contemporaries ", . compiled and prepared for publication in 1987, the famous bibliophile of Pushkin VV,
. Kunin. (Back)
* N.O. Hannibal had her husband, SL. Pushkin's great-niece. (Back)
. * Creoles called the descendants of Spanish, Portuguese and French colonialists, and later - people of mixed origin of the two races. (Back)
. * Trigorskoye - so in his letters Hope Levinton had names neighbor P.A
. Osipova-Wulf Trigorskoye. (Back)
* The original letter N.O. Pushkina, Hannibal, Caesar - in French. (Back)